All the horses in the qualifying ride have to be stabled in the same way. Since there were not enough stalls in the barn for them, they all had to be kept in portable corrals. That left the barns to us 50 and 30 mile riders. I ended up with a small stall but Marie didn't seem to care. As a matter of fact, she seemed quite content from the time we arrived. If she only knew that I was going to ride her 50 miles tomorrow....ignorance is bliss I guess. I didn't even have to put up electric wire across the end of her stall. I usually have a hard time keeping her in these cattle stalls, but she was very happy next to Mariah. Marie kept reaching under the stall divider and stealing Mariah's hay. It was fresh cut and therefore much better then her own. I put the stuff that I would be needing at the barn into the truck and drove it up to drop it off. My camping spot was just too far from the barn to lug it all up. Heather's father showed up just after I got camp all set up. Heather, her father, Abby and I went down to Tut's for lunch. After we got back we sat by Heather's trailer and just hung out until it was time to vet in. Endurance riding is quite different from CTR's. There were 5 vets as opposed to the one vet at a CTR. They don't go over the horses like they do at a CTR. Just a quick check and a quick trot with no circle. So, all the horses were vetted in quite quickly which was nice. Just as I got done vetting in, Bonnie showed up, she was my crew person. There were a couple of vendors at the ride. Bonnie and I shopped for a bit. I bought a trailer door organizer. Then Bonnie couldn't stand it any more and just had to go to Tut's. I was still full from lunch so I just had a 'premie' ice cream. I was starting to feel like I was coming down with a cold or some other such nasty thing. Sore throat, headache, stuffy nose and all. I got some Nyquil at Tut's to hopefully help me sleep. When we got back, we searched around for Mary Batt. I was going to be riding with her. I had seen her truck and trailer so knew she was around. We finally found her. Her husband, daughter, daughter's boyfriend and another friend had come with her to pit crew for her. Apparently I was understaffed..... Bonnie would get the privilege of driving my special old truck. It has many quirks that are fun for someone that has never driven it such as not being in the gear it says it's in, the speedometer being 15 mph off, the heater blower having to be hooked up with two wires, having to use a spray bottle and your arm out the window for windshield wiper fluid and so on. Hey, it runs good!
In the ride package, there is a list of all the riders and their horses. I quickly noticed that Marie was the only QH in the ride. It was mostly Arabs and a few Morgans. AAAGGHHH, the pressure was on! Mary and I had already decided we were not going to try for the top 10. Since this was my first endurance ride, I just wanted to get a completion. I am trying to earn the versatility award this year with Marie. for this you have to do one each of a 1 day ride, 2 day ride, 3 day ride and an endurance ride in a season. I already had a completion in a 1 day and a 3 day ride and I didn't want to ruin my chance for the award. The pre-ride meeting was at 6:30 PM We went back down to Tut's for supper after the meeting. We all went to bed soon after we got back to camp as we had to be up by 3:00 AM. The 100 mile riders were starting at 5:00 AM and they had 24 hours to complete the ride. The 50 mile rider were going out at 5:30 AM and we had 12 hours to complete our ride. The 30 mile riders would go out at 6:30 AM. I was feeling pretty lousy by the time we went to bed but the Nyquil did help me to sleep.
I woke up just a little before 3:00 AM. I was feeling a little better. I heated up some water for coffee and oatmeal. After I ate I headed to the barn to feed Marie. She had a quite night it seemed and she actually stayed in her stall all night! A woman who had a horse across the aisle asked Bonnie what breed of horse Marie was. Bonnie told her a QH. The woman was horrified. "You can't use a QH for endurance riding!" Bonnie really didn't say anything to that, but I got a laugh out of it when she told me. In an endurance race, there is a 'shot gun' start. The 100 mile riders went out right on time. It was fun watching 30 horses race out of the fairgrounds all at the same time in the pre-dawn light. That sure makes some of the horse crazy. I saddled up as soon as the 100 milers left and warmed Marie up. We were out right on time at 5:30 AM. Marie was a bit mystified at so many horses racing across the fairgrounds and up the road. we were in the lead for a whole minute! My 60 second of glory!! There is a lot of up hill climbing on the first 14 mile loop. There were several pit crew stops before the first hold. Bonnie was right there at every one sponging Marie down and getting her cooled off. The first hold was at the pumping station. It was a 30 minute hold. Your hold time doesn't start until your horse pulses down to 64 or less. So, you don't want to come racing into the hold too fast or you just end up waiting around for the pulse to come down. Especially with a QH. Marie was a little hot when I first came in so we pulled her saddle right off and sponged her down good. Then her pulsed dropped nicely. Bonnie took Marie through the pulse gate and then for her trot out. Bonnie forgot that when you trot Marie, you can't get up in front of her. She knows you can't make her trot from that position and will play games with you. After much pulling and tugging, I finally yelled over to Bonnie to get beside Marie and tap her with the lead rope. Then Bonnie was able to get Marie to trot. So, Marie got a few B's on her card for impulsion, attitude, and overall impression with a comment of 'real lazy on trot out' with the word lazy crossed out and 'distracted written' in it's place. Otherwise, Marie got all A's. We got out of the hold right on time. The second hold was at the pumping station also after a 16 mile loop. So, at the second we had completed 30 miles. That's as many miles as Marie has ever done in one day. The terrain wasn't too hard on the second loop and Marie's pulse came right down. I did the trot out with her. Bonnie took care of everything else, stripping Marie's tack, sponging her and feeding her while I rested and got something to eat. Mary brought water but no bucket her horse could drink out of. I was glad I brought lots of buckets because Mary ended up using mine. We got out of the hold on time. The next loop was 15 miles with the last hold back at the fairground. We had the mountain to go over in this loop. I got off Marie and tailed up it all the way. Mary and Margaret tried this also but their horses wouldn't cooperate. Tailing is when you dismount, and walk behind your horse holding their tail so they can pull you up the hill. It is easier for a horse to pull you then carry you. You cannot get off your horse in a CTR, but you can in an endurance ride. Marie has been up this hill enough times now to know it is a long one. I think she was just so glad to have me off her back and walking that she was going to go along with anything that kept me off her and we tailed up that mountain like old pros. the other two horses were puffing quite hard when we reached the top but Marie wasn't at all. I'm glad I gave her the break. At about 40 miles out, Marie started acting like she was finally getting a little tired. I wondered how things would go at the last hold with it being at the fairground. The poor horses would think we were done and then we would be making them go back out for a last 5 mile loop.
The last hold was just a 20 minute hold so I didn't pull Marie's saddle. Bonnie did sponge her off thoroughly though. Marie's pulse came down fine and she vetted in well. Once again some B's under impulsion and attitude as her trot out was a bit sluggish but all A's otherwise. When we headed back out, Marie didn't seem to mind at all and even seemed to get a second wind. She moved right along like we had just started the ride and we finished the last 5 miles in good time. At the final vetting she did great and ended up with straight A's on her card. I was so proud of my little mare. Who says you can't do endurance with a QH. The vet told me her recovery's were so good that I could have safely ridden her a bit faster. I had a ride time of right around 8 hours.
At this point I knew I had a nasty sinus infection and I was feeling seriously lousy. Supper was served soon after I finished with awards quickly following that. I placed 20th out of 29 horses that started. The woman with the horse across the aisle from Marie had to ask me if Marie really was a QH. I told her yes. She expressed disbelief and walked off muttering. Bonnie and I decided to stay over until Sunday morning. I just didn't feel well enough to drive home that night. Mary stayed also. We went down to Tut's for coffee and desert that evening. Mary went to bed as soon as we got back. Bonnie and I sat in the barn and watched the 100 milers coming and going until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
I slept until 7:00 AM. By then I really wanted to check on Marie to make sure she was doing ok and of course get her fed. Marie was in great shape. Very content. The woman across the aisle informed us that she's had to feed our horses, Marie and Midori, some hay because they were acting like "dorks". Whatever...... We threw all the stuff we had in the barn into Bonnie's car, stripped Marie's and Midori's stall and headed out.
Pine Tree 50 ME 7/14/01 29/S-27/F
1 Country Major / D Grillo
3 Bie-Kin / W Bejarano
4 Shyrocco Troilus / D Augustine
5 Hydaway SSJ Sox
9 KA Shiloh / S Niedoroda
12 Especial Edition / L Prentice
14 Sir William Naczar / V Stanislawski
15 Izusu / B Lester
16 Harbor Flyte / H Stacy
17 Briwds Mardi Gras / S Corr
18 ? / L. Snook
Completions:
FR Midori / M Batt
Marie / C Ross
LWF Paljoe Promise / M Farnum
Boomerang / J Sapira
Batals Gypsy Rose / B Horstmeier
Baskin Serafix / S Ackerstron
Alert's Shadow / K Robbins
Silvea / J Brunjes
DLA Cassidy / J Hatch
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